Cheers The Malones Sam and Diane Joey's First Love
by vodkarocks
Summary: This story is a continuation of a previous story called Cheers-The Malones Sam and Diane. It centers on Sam and Diane navigating their way through raising five year old twins.


**The Malones**

**Chapter 1**

**It's About Time**

_**December 3, 1999**_

**Sam glanced at the caller ID and immediately smiled. He still loved hearing, seeing and thinking her name- Diane Chambers, only now it pops up as Diane Malone.**

"**Hi,sweetheart".**

"**Sam", said Diane launching into conversation almost in mid- sentence, **

"**Are you free to pick Maura and Joey up from kindergarten today? Margaret has to go to the nursing home to sign some papers for her father and I have an English Department meeting today. Since I'm the Chair of the Department, I suppose I should be there. I really should be better about remembering these meetings. I guess I'm a little flighty these days, so much to do".**

**Diane? **_**Flightly these days**_**? Diane was always "flighty" until it came to her passions in life- her husband, her children, and her work. In those three cases, and in that order, she was direct, confident, and bold, if not a blessed shade of annoying.**

"**Diane, Woody isn't due in until 5:00 and Carla is the only other one here. Could Margaret drop the kids here at Cheers and I'll bring them home when I come home around 5? She drives past Cheers on the way to her father's nursing home, doesn't she?"**

"**I guess that could work. I'll call her and ask her. If you don't hear from me, plan on them getting there around 3:15. Oh, and Sam, I've planned a good dinner for us tonight and I don't want you to ruin Maura and Joey's appetites by all that junk food you keep around the bar, not to mention the sugar filled drinks you always give them. I left some nutritious snacks in your office refrigerator, give them those. And, for heaven's sake Sam, don't let them watch those dreadful after school cartoons. If they want to watch TV, have them at least watch something educational." Finally taking a breath, she said I love you and hung up.**

**Sam chuckled to himself. So Diane-like to issue paragraph size orders about their children that she well knew he'd never follow. Joey and Maura, their five year old twins, loved coming to Cheers to hang out with Sam and break all the rules. They adored their father and he reveled in their presence. Maura and Carla adored each other too. Carla called her princess and told her she was as beautiful as her mother but admonished Maura to never tell her mother that. Maura always giggled. Joey sat on a bar stool in between Cliff and Norm. He picked up phrases like "pass the beer nuts" and "it's a little known fact". Sam always laughed when he said it but it made Diane furious.**

**Margaret came into their lives a few months after they married. She had stopped into the bar and ordered a drink. He chatted with her for a while as he worked and she told him she was new in town. She said she wasn't exactly new to Boston, she had grown up in Boston but was returning to live there after twenty-five plus years.**

** "What brings you back here"? **

** Margaret smiled and said, "I'm retired from teaching, my husband died two years ago and my father is still here. I thought I'd spend some time with him, he's ninety and in a nursing home. I'd also like try to rekindle some old childhood acquaintances. My sons live elsewhere and I thought it might be a good time".**

** "I'm sorry about your husband", Sam said.**

** "Oh dear young man don't be sorry about my husband. If the good Lord hadn't taken him when he did, I might have. He was not a very nice man".**

** Sam smiled at her honesty. **

** Margaret very straightforwardly said to Sam, "Actually, I'm not here to drink, I'm here looking for a job. My husband left me debt ridden. I have my teaching pension and Social Security but little else. I'm looking for something part-time to supplement my income". **

** Sam had no positions at the bar to fill but he genuinely liked this Margaret and knew that a sixty something year old woman might have difficulty finding work. But, something about her made him want to know her better. **

** They chatted for a while and Sam mentioned that he and his wife were recently married and expecting twins in February. She thought that was "splendid" and wished him all the luck in the world. Sam took a leap and asked her if she would consider, at least temporarily helping his wife prepare for the birth of their children. He'd happily pay for her help. He explained that Diane was working and that she was having extreme angst over her ability to do it all and of her fear in her ability to be a good mother. Margaret smiled and told him that was not at all unusual for first time parents, as she had experienced the same feelings at one time. **

**Margaret asked Sam exactly what he was looking for her to do. Sam wasn't sure and told her so. He wanted someone that Diane trusted to help her create a nursery, maybe assist with the babies when they arrived, maybe act as a nanny. He wasn't sure but if she was interested, he wanted her to meet with Diane. Margaret said she'd be happy to meet with Diane and they arranged a meeting at Cheers for the following day.**

**Diane was not at all happy about interviewing a woman that had been drinking in a bar during the afternoon for a position as important as taking care of her children and told Sam as much. He tried to tell her that the woman was in looking for a job, not sitting and drinking. They argued but she acquiesced and agreed to meet Margaret.**

"**But I'm NOT going to like her", she said as they were climbing into bed,**

"**I just know I'm not". They still snuggled though, arms around each other.**

**Diane was in Sam's office when Margaret arrived at Cheers. In the office Diane was on the phone speaking in French to her friend on the other end of the line. She was complaining about having to interview a woman Sam had found at the bar to help. She intended to tell this woman flat out that she wasn't interested in hiring her. Sam would just have to deal with it.**

**Margaret knocked on the door of Sam's office and Diane motioned for her to come in, then said into the phone, "Au Revoir. Je t'appelle plus tard, je te rappelled plus" and hung up.**

**Margaret held out her hand and said to Diane, " Je suis heureux. Je m'appelle Margaret Murphy".**

**Diane was stunned at seeing this obviously bright, intelligent woman standing before her and asked her to sit down. She said to Margaret, "Are you fluent in French"? To which Margaret replied, "Yes, I am and Spanish and German as well. I taught French for twenty-five years before I retired."**

**One half hour later, Diane and Margaret emerged from Sam's office laughing like old friends and speaking in French to one another. Sam remembers thinking – oh no- what have I done to myself. Margaret is like the mother Diane never had and Margaret often says that Diane is the daughter she never thought she'd have. Margaret is family now, the Malone's love her and she loves them.**


End file.
